A silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter referred to as a light-sensitive material in case of need) requires, after being exposed to light, processing steps including developing, desilvering, washing, stabilizing and drying. For carrying out the processing steps mentioned above, there are various methods available among which an ordinary method is an immersion processing method wherein each of processing tanks provided for processing steps is filled with a predetermined processing solution therefor, and a light-sensitive material is led to the processing tanks in succession and transported to be processed.
The automatic developing apparatus of immersion processing type mentioned above employs a method for supplying a replenishing processing solution prepared in a replenishing processing solution tank to a processing solution depending on an amount of the material processed, mainly for keeping activity of a processing solution constant.
With regard to a replenishing processing solution, it is common that a user himself makes the solution in a replenishing processing solution tank by preparing in advance the solution supplied in a form of powder or a condensed solution. For preparing a replenishing processing solution from a powdered processing agent, it is necessary to prepare a solution by dissolving it in a fixed amount of water, for preparing a replenishing processing solution from a condensed solution, while it is necessary to conduct operations of diluting it with water to a fixed amount, mixing and dissolving. These operations have been conducted manually. Therefore, the operations have been not only complexity but also may cause a problem that since a kit of condensed solutions is composed of different individual parts for the purpose of securing preservability, processing capability varies when a certain part is not added to the processing solution or a certain part in excessive amount is added to it and serious faults that especially, when the film is processed with such a solution, processing of the same film can not be redone. Because of spread of the so-called micro-lab in recent years, there has been brought about a situation wherein an unskilled person is compelled to use an automatic developing apparatus, and thereby, the problems mentioned above have become more serious and a demand for a system that does not require a user to prepare a replenishing processing solution has been raised.
On the other hand, a demand for environmental protection and resource-saving has become great on a worldwide basis, and a container of a condensed solution for a replenishing processing solution, in particular, has become an issue in a photographic field. The container is made of polyethylene which is excellent in terms of cost, convenience in storage and transport, and chemical resistance. An empty container is either scrapped as an industrial waste or incinerated. However, polyethylene has a problem that it exists on a semipermanent basis when scrapped because it has no biodegradation property, and it contributes to global warming, producing a large amount of carbon dioxide when incinerated. In addition, users complain that a large quantity of the containers stacked in a narrow work space make the space narrower.
For the solution of the problems mentioned above, there have been made various proposals. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent L.O.P.) No. 61837/1976 discloses tablets for photographic use containing decaying agents, while Japanese Patent L.O.P. Nos. 109042/1990, 109043/1990, 39735/191991 and 39739/1991 disclose methods employing granulated processing agents for photographic use having a specific average particle size. In the methods mentioned above, however, the completion point for dissolution can not be judged in the so-called micro-lab due to an unskilled person there when preparing a replenishing processing solution by dissolving tablets or granulated agents, thus, the replenishing processing solution is used up before the thorough dissolution therein, resulting in problems that insoluble substances adhere to a photographic light-sensitive material to affect developing or processing efficiency or problems that a filter portion is clogged with the insoluble substances, although the completion point for dissolution can be judged experimentally from a color of the dissolved solution or the like when the replenishing processing solution is prepared by a skilled person.
For social environmental and economic reasons, on the other hand, a high concentration and low replenishing processing system tends to be used in the recent trend. In the system, dissolving efficiency is extremely poor because of the high concentration of dissolved solution, and the problems described above are becoming more serious. It is further feared that another problem arises that crystals may be precipitated only because o wrong sequence of mixing a processing agent kit.
Further, as a method for eliminating the dissolving operation, Japanese Patent L.O.P. No. 11344 discloses a technology wherein paste-like parts agents (also called part agent) in an amount corresponding to a mixing ratio of the parts agents are squeezed out of each unit container and the parts agents squeezed out are diluted to a predetermined concentration for preparing and supplying a solution accurately. Owing to this method, dissolving operation may be either lessened or eliminated for certain, but it is difficult to squeeze out paste-like parts agents in a predetermined amount, and a nozzle tends to be clogged when the method is not used frequently.
In Japanese Patent L.O.P. No. 199357/1988, there is disclosed a technology wherein a tablet which is a mixture of a chemical that enhances the electrical conductivity and a sterilizer is introduced into a replenishing processing solution tank for a water washing-substituting stabilizing processing solution. This technology, however, can be utilized only in the case of a water washing-substituting stabilizing processing solution wherein processing efficiency is not affected even when an amount of the introduced tablets varies, and it can not be utilized for preparation of a replenishing processing solution for a processing solution that is used for developing and bleaching or bleach-fixing and fixing of a color photographic light-sensitive material.
In Japanese Patent L.O.P. No. 29136/1992, there is disclosed a technology wherein a solid agent for developing a monochromatic photographic light-sensitive material and that for fixing the same are introduced to be dissolved into a replenishing processing solution and a period of time from introducing the agent into the solution to sending it to a processing tank is required to be regulated. However, neither means for dissolving the agent thoroughly nor means for confirming thorough dissolution thereof is provided. In addition, there is provided no means for removing insoluble objects even when they exist. Therefore, it is risky to utilize the technology for processing a color film.